If bad blood from Martinsville Speedway carries over to Texas Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin won’t be fazed.
Hamlin, during an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s show “Tradin’ Paint” on Thursday, Hamlin said that he doesn’t care if Chase Elliott decides to race him harder than usual in the AAA Texas 500.
The two drivers were at the center of a controversy Sunday, after Hamlin spun Elliott out of the lead in the First Data 500. Although the Joe Gibbs Racing driver accepted responsibility for the incident and apologized Monday, many No. 24 fans have made very clear that they think the wreck was intentional.
“I’ve told them that — however you want to race me is absolutely fine — I’ll be OK with that,” Hamlin said. “I’m not worried about it, I have no time to be worrying about anything like that. We have two more races to get ourselves in the Final Four and Texas is the first step to doing that.”
Although Elliott called Hamlin’s move “unnecessary,” we’ll be surprised if he goes out of his way to retaliate in Texas. After all, he too still is fighting for a spot in the next round of the playoffs, plus he sounded more irritated than mad immediately after the No. 11 turned him around.
Thumbnail photo via Mike DiNovo/USA TODAY Sports Images
